...In junior American Legion, Skowhegan will begin play in its second straight state tournament today, eyeing a championship at Colby College against Cheverus, Cape Elizabeth and Hampden.

“We were in first place most of this season during the regular season, so I think there were some expectations going in to make it this far,” Skowhegan coach Rob Bolduc said. “We had a great regular season, and now we’re looking forward to seeing what possibly we can accomplish this weekend.”

Skowhegan Junior Legion drops game, but advances on technicalityForfeit due to lack of eligible Cape Elizabeth players not revealed until after game.

...Skowhegan seemed to get its quest for a state championship off to a bizarre and disappointing start at Colby College, letting a five-run lead slip away in what was ostensibly a 7-6 loss to Yankee Ford out of Cape Elizabeth, apparently meaning a trip to the losers’ bracket in the four-team tournament.

Those qualifying words are necessary because it was revealed afterward that the game was actually a forfeit, due to Cape Elizabeth only having eight elligible players for the game. That meant that Cape Elizabeth would be saddled with a loss in the double-elimination tournament and Skowhegan would get a win by default, but Rod Stevens, the Maine Junior Legion commissioner, permitted Cape Elizabeth to play the game as a forfeit, without telling Skowhegan of the technicality, in hopes of having the tournament play out as normally as possible.

BANGOR, Maine — The Old Town Junior League all-stars scored 40 runs over two games on Sunday to win the state championship with 17-0 and 23-9 victories over Falmouth at Mansfield Stadium.

Old Town advanced to the Junior League Baseball East Regional Tournament scheduled for Aug. 4 to 9 in Freehold Township, New Jersey. Old Town plays its first game at 4 p.m. on Friday against the Massachusetts state champion.

In the Maine state tourney, Old Town had to defeat Falmouth twice Sunday after falling to it on Saturday in the first day of the two-day tourney, 7-6

Business as usual for Mansfield staff ahead of Junior Legion regionals

BANGOR - Nearly a year to the day, the 2016 Senior League World Series was wrapping up with the typical fanfare that came to be expected of the annual Bangor tradition. Shortly after though, baseball fans throughout the state would become heartbroken, when Little League determined it would be moving the games to South Carolina in 2017 and beyond.

Thankfully for those same fans, they will have another chance to catch competitive ball in August at Mansfield Stadium

Junior Legion is a relatively new division of youth baseball in Maine, with 18 teams of players ages 13-17 competing statewide this summer divided into nine-team North and South divisions.

Thirsty Turf Irrigation of Portland, a team consisting of players from Cheverus High School, emerged as this year’s state champion after outlasting Hartt Transportation of Hampden-Hermon in last Sunday’s finals at Colby College in Waterville.

Skowhegan Post 16, which went 14-4 during the regular season before being ousted by Thirsty Turf Irrigation during the playoffs, is the predetermined host team for the regional.

PPH recap: Sports Digest: Portland team loses in Junior Legion regionalThirsty Turf falls to a Massachusetts team in the Northeast Regional quarterfinals.

Portland team falls in Junior Legion regionalWill Pachecho and Jack Nally each had two hits, and Franklin Post 75 of Franklin, Massachusetts, scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning Friday to beat Thirsty Turf of Portland 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Junior Legion Northeast Regional at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

BANGOR, Maine — Owen Tonkin went 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored at the plate, and he also pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to help Newmarket Post 67 crush Connecticut, 13-1, in Friday’s opener at the American Legion Northeast Region 1 Junior Tournament in Bangor.

Newmarket, the New Hampshire Junior Legion state champs, will face Skowhegan (Maine) Post 16 in a winners bracket game tonight at 7.